Æ35 - Severus Alexander ΖΕΥϹ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΟϹ ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ

Ephesus held the prestigious title of "first and greatest metropolis of Asia," a designation fiercely contested with Smyrna and Pergamon throughout the second and third centuries. The city's right to host the imperial cult and its control over the sanctuary of Artemis gave it enormous leverage in petitioning Rome for honorific privileges — coins like this one, invoking Zeus Olympios as a civic deity, were part of that ongoing campaign of self-promotion directed at the imperial court.

Severus Alexander's reign saw a notable proliferation of large civic bronzes across the Asian conventus, partly because his mother Julia Mamaea cultivated strong relationships with eastern Greek cities.